Jordan eyes Guinness World Record with largest candle mosaic

AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) on Saturday announced that it will create the world’s largest candle mosaic next week in an attempt to set a Guinness World Record title.

The attempt to set a Guinness World Record title will coincide with global celebrations of Earth Hour, marked annually on March 23 to raise awareness on global warming.

The candle mosaic will depict the Earth Hour logo, according to Oday Amairah, public relations supervisor at the RSCN.

“The mosaic of the Earth Hour logo [60+] will be made of more than 11,000 black and white candles, set according to the Guinness World Record guidelines…” Amairah told The Jordan Times.

The candle mosaic will be created in Amman Citadel on Saturday March 24 from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, according to Amairah, who noted that volunteers and RSCN employees will participate in creating the candle mosaic.

“The RSCN has been celebrating Earth Hour for the past 11 years… this year the celebration will be different from usual, as we will be attempting to break the Guinness World Record title for the largest candle mosaic…” he noted.

The aim of the event is to highlight the important role the Jordanian society is playing at the local and international levels in the conservation of nature and national heritage, as well as the importance of Jordan’s participation in international events to raise awareness on the global phenomenon.

“Part of the candles that will be used in the mosaic are from the RSCN workshops, produced by the women of local communities at the Mujib Biosphere Reserve and Wadi Feynan,” Amairah said.

Jordan has been marking Earth Hour by switching off streetlights on several of the capital’s main roads, in addition to lights at government agencies, archaeological sites, nature reserves, and scores of hotels, restaurants and homes.

The event seeks to raise people's awareness on environment challenges and how the excessive use of energy exploits our natural resource

Earth Hour began in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. The message has grown into a global movement, with more than 50 million people switching off their lights for an hour every year.